Join the O’Fallon Park Rec Center YMCA swim team in promoting water safety at the Olympic Swim Trials and a competitive meet in Indianapolis.
As preparations are being made to travel to Indianapolis next month as observers at the U.S. Olympics Swimming Trials, the Makos swim team at the O’Fallon Park Recreation Complex/YMCA made a splash promoting water safety in their home pool.
The Makos presented the International Water Safety Day which featured free swim lessons, water safety information, and vendors raising funds to support the swim team’s weekend trip to the Olympic trials June 14-16 that will also include a competitive event for the team.
Water safety is essential, and drownings are preventable if children and adults are equipped with the proper knowledge and skills, says Makos Swim Team Coach Terea Goodwin. More than 50 people from toddlers to seniors signed up for the water safety event at O’Fallon Park Rec Center, 4343 West Florissant Avenue. Swimming lessons are $5 for YMCA members and $10 for non-members.
“We’re just trying to give them the awareness of water, so they won’t be afraid of it, “Goodwin says. “Our goal is to save one life. If we can save one life, we can save many.”
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),
Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1-4 in the U.S.
Every year in the United States there are over 4,000 unintentional drowning deaths.
Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death for children 5-14, behind motor vehicle crashes.
Drowning death rates for Black people under age 30 are 1.5 times higher than the rates for White people. Disparities are highest among Black children ages 5-9 (rates 2.6 times higher) and ages 10-14 (rates 3.6 times higher).
Participating in formal swimming lessons can reduce the risk of drowning among children and young adults.
Goodwin says lack of exposure to water at a young age – and fear, contribute to the high rates of drownings, particularly among African Americans.
“Parents, grandparents, parent parents were afraid of the water and passed that down to their offspring,” she says. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. Drowning is so preventable. Taking swimming lessons can save lives. We teach our children how to cross the street, so why not teach them how to swim.”
Keena McBride, who was introduced to swimming years ago and swam competitively at Mathews-Dickey Boys & Girls Club, has two children on the Makos swim team. Learning to swim is part of a much-needed skill set.
“Swimming is a life skill,” says McBride, adding that the competitive nature of the sport is being undervalued by too many African American youth.
“We see a lot of athletes performing in track & field, basketball and football,” she says. “Swimming for us is a new art form. Being able to introduce this culture to our youth is very important.”
The Makos are bringing on “the new art form” McBride is talking about as the all-African American swim team, named after the Shortfin Mako Shark, known as the “fastest shark in the ocean” heads to Indy for the Olympic swim trials.
The event will be held being built in of all places, Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts football team. Team members will witness competition of swimmers from around the United States vying for the opportunity to represent America in the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 24 through August in Paris, France.
“Yes we’re going to be there to see who’s going to Paris,” Goodwin says.
Mako swimmers will have poolside seats for the June 16th swim trial session. But before that, they’ll participate in the 2024 Central Zone Multicultural Meet, June 14-16 at Center Grove High School Natatorium in Greenwood, IN, a suburb of Indianapolis.
The event is formatted to celebrate diversity in coordination with the 2024 USA Swimming Olympic Team Trials. This swim meet will be a 2.5-day format with one all-ages session on both Friday afternoon and Sunday morning and two sessions on Saturday with a guest speaker in between. The event is sponsored by the Indiana Swimming organization in conjunction with USA Swimming, the national governing body for competitive swimming in the United States.
This meet is significant in that except for a few exceptions, the Makos regularly are the only African American swimmers in competition in Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and other locations in the Midwest. Goodwin is Chair of the Diversity Committee for Ozark Swimming and U.S.A. Swimming.
Swim Mom, Connie Johnson says Goodwin’s role in shining the light on inclusion “has opened up a whole new world for us.”
“We’re getting access to resources and information we normally wouldn’t have had,” Johnson added. “The exposure will show our team what it takes. This could be them one day, trying out for the Olympics. It’s going to happen by planting the seeds now.”
Antankia Shahid, a member of the Makos Parent Board, said the trip to Indy and witness swimmers compete for spots in the Olympics, will prove to be an eye-opening experience for Makos team members.
“It shows the possibilities with swimming,” Shahid says. “They can earn scholarships to help them in their journeys of developing generational wealth.”
Shahid’s 10-year-old daughter, Laylah-Wicker, has been a Mako swim team member for five years. She says the competition will show off the skill sets of the Makos.
“I like to compete and show people who we are,” she says. “We have to make sure they don’t forget.”
The trip to Indy has expenses – hotel, bus, food. Many fundraisers, as well as parent donations, are being held to financially support the Makos. The water safety event featured vendor who are sewing part of their sales to the team.
Barbara Archie and Allison Schwent, of B&B Aquatics, which sells competitive and fitness swimwear, had a both at the event.
“I raised five swimmers, one got into gymnastics and the others went to college on swimming scholarships,” Archie says. “It was good for me, and I think it will be good for the swimmers here at the Rec Center.”
Friends of the Makos can “Dine to Donate” during fundraising night at Texas Roadhouse Restaurant, 1220 South Kirkwood Road, in Kirkwood, MO. Texas Roadhouse will donate 10% of food purchases to the Makos Swim Team.
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